Commercial Law

Features

When an infant is born hypoxic, acidotic and neurologically depressed and goes on to develop permanent brain damage, questions are raised as to when the injury occurred, why it occurred and whether it could have been prevented through the exercise of reasonable care. The answers to those questions will determine whether there is a valid basis for pursuing a claim of medical malpractice.

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Matrimonial attorneys may believe that the Bankruptcy Code protects support creditors, insuring that they will be able to collect both ongoing support and support arrears. While it may be true that the support obligations cannot be discharged, during the pendency of a Chapter 11 case ' and that could be for years ' collection of support is increasingly a matter of federal law to be adjudicated by a federal court that is concerned with balancing the claims of the support creditor against the claims of all the other creditors.

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This article explores the alternatives to patenting.

Features

Franchise attorneys are quite familiar with management buyouts ('MBOs') and have perhaps assisted or consulted in such transactions. Now comes along a new phenomenon in international franchising: master franchisee buyouts ('MFBOs'). An introduction to MFBOs follows, using examples of two recent transactions.

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XYZ Inc. settles a federal criminal investigation by signing a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). Now its attorneys think the company and its privileged documents are safe so long as XYZ stays out of trouble. But have they closed the barn door after the horse has run away? A little-noticed holding by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the KPMG tax shelter case suggests that a DPA may open privileged documents to defendants in criminal trials and even to civil litigants.

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This article reviews the <i>In re Commercial Money Center</i> case and its practical implications, provides an overview of some proposed amendments to the UCC with respect to such problems, and discusses suggestions of how to protect clients in the post-<i>CMC</i> environment.

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The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ('BAPCPA') was initially enacted to reform the Bankruptcy Code as it relates to health care businesses and to protect the ongoing quality of patient care being provided by such health care establishments during a bankruptcy proceeding. Specifically, this legislation added Section 333 to the United States Code Title 11, which requires the appointment of a patient care ombudsman ('PCO') in Chapters 7, 9 or 11 reorganization cases where the debtor is a 'health care business,' as defined by the Code, unless the court finds the appointment is not necessary to protect the health and well-being of the business' patients.

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Given the instability in the current real estate market and the significant rise in the number of borrowers defaulting on their mortgages, the topic of foreclosures, regardless of the type, will be the subject of many future discussions and articles. Just a quick review of popular business periodicals reveals the many forces working together to both increase the number of foreclosures and decrease property values. In this climate, many lenders will be assessing their options when it comes to foreclosing on delinquent borrowers.